Different alphabets, same story? Media Framing of Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in British, Dutch and Serbian Media Elena KrsmanovIC i | P a g e Different alphabets, same story? Media Framing of Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in British, Dutch and Serbian Media Verschillende alfabetten, hetzelfde verhaal? Media framing van mensenhandel gericht op seksuele uitbuiting in Britse, Nederlandse en Servische media (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 7 september 2018 des middags te 12.45 uur door Elena Krsmanović geboren op 4 oktober 1989 te Sarajevo, Joegoslavië ii | P a g e Supervisors/Promotoren: Prof. dr. D. Siegel Prof. dr. I. Neverla The degree is awarded as part of a Joint Doctorate with Hamburg University, Germany. This thesis was accomplished with financial support from the European Union Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency, Erasmus Mundus Scheme. Dit proefschrift werd (mede) mogelijk gemaakt met financiele steun van European Union’s Education Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency’s Erasmus Mundus Scheme. iii | P a g e Declaration I declare that the research embodied in this thesis is my own work and that the material contained herein has not been previously submitted at any other university. I declare that I have not used commercial doctoral advisory services or any other sources of aid other than those listed in this thesis. Date of submission: 15th April 2018 Word count: 104,591 iv | P a g e Public presentations based on the work of this thesis Conference Presentations European Society of Criminology Conference, Cardiff, September 2017. Paper: Crime, sex and violence: could it get newsier than that? Critical analysis on media reporting on human trafficking. American Society of Criminology Conference, New Orleans, November 2016. Paper: Different Alphabets, Same Story? – Media Framing of Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Serbian, British and Dutch media. Common Study Programme for Critical Criminology Conference, Porto 2016. Paper: Telling the Story of Human Trafficking – Journalists’ and Experts’ perspective. Common Study Programme for Critical Criminology Conference, Rotterdam 2015. Paper: Cultural reflection in images of sexual exploitation: Visual representation of human trafficking in Serbian media. Publications Krsmanović, E. (2016). Captured ‘Realities’ of Human Trafficking: Analysis of photographs illustrating stories on trafficking into the sex industry in Serbian media. Anti-Trafficking Review, (7). Available here. Krsmanović, E. (2015). Organised discourse of modern slavery. CIROC Newsletter, Vol. 2, September. Available here. v | P a g e Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to people and institutions who made this academic journey possible. Firstly, my appreciation goes to the European Commission for providing their generous funding under the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Fellowship scheme and the consortium of the Doctorate for Cultural and Global Criminology for recognising the value of my research project. I am greatly thankful for the support of my supervisors, prof. Dina Siegel and prof. Irene Neverla. Thank you for the advice and encouragement that kept me going and growing. Further, I am appreciative of the hospitality of the Utrecht University, the Hamburg University, and the University of Kent, and the tremendous help in the times of need that Sarah Marsh of the Kent Postgraduate Support was. The wonderful professors and colleagues I met during my doctoral studies will always stay dear to my heart, especially my DCGC academic family. I extend my sincerest appreciation for the constructive suggestions and comments of the members of my examination committee, prof. Sheldon Zhang, prof. Richard Staring, prof. Margreth Lünenborg, prof. François Kristen, and prof. Nils Zurawski. The thoughts of prof. Zhang and the encouragement of prof. Staring were truly inspirational. My endless gratitude goes to all the informants who shared their experiences and knowledge with me. It warms my heart to know that there are many professionals in the media and anti- trafficking who share a vision of a world free of inequalities and exploitation and who are working diligently to make that vision a reality. I am also very thankful for the help and support of my former colleagues from ASTRA. Furthermore, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Tamme for helping me share my knowledge with those who can benefit the most from it; to Anna, my PhD soulmate, for keeping me sane; and to my brilliant professors, Zoran and Aleksandar, for believing in me so long ago and helping me to learn to do the same. Last but not least, I want to thank my family and friends for their loving support and understanding. You are my driving force, my inspiration, and my strength. And for my greatest blessing: having two genuine angels to call best friends and my mischievous twin to be my partner in crime forever. Mom, I will never be able to thank you enough. You are the one person I truly admire! Grandma, you begged me not to do this. 100,000 words later, many grey hairs, many failed relationships, 2 surgeries, and 1 terrorist attack later – I now understand why. And I hope you are vi | P a g e proud, regardless. I devote this work to you, my other grandma and all other wonderful women who did not have the opportunity to follow their dreams and show the world how smart and powerful they are. vii | P a g e Table of Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................................... iii Public presentations based on the work of this thesis .................................................................. iv Conference Presentations ......................................................................................................... iv Publications ............................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... xi Summary (English) ........................................................................................................................ xii Samenvatting (Nederlands) ......................................................................................................... xiv Sazetak (Srpski) .......................................................................................................................... xviii Zusammenfassung (German) ...................................................................................................... xxi Chapter 1 - Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Trafficking in Human Beings – Definition ...................................................................... 3 1.2. Perspectives on Human Trafficking ............................................................................... 8 1.2.1. Prostitution-centred Perspectives ............................................................................... 8 1.2.2. Migration, Security and Criminal Justice Perspectives............................................... 12 1.2.3. Human Rights Perspective ......................................................................................... 14 1.2.4. Modern Slavery Perspective ...................................................................................... 15 1.2.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 17 1.3. Operationalising journalism and media ....................................................................... 17 1.4. Research Questions and Focus .................................................................................... 20 1.5. Relevance of the Study ................................................................................................ 24 1.6. Thesis Outline .............................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 2 - Theory and Literature Review................................................................................... 30 2.1. Communication Studies .............................................................................................. 30 2.1.1. Framing Theory ......................................................................................................... 31 2.1.2. Mediatisation ............................................................................................................ 37 2.2. Social Studies ............................................................................................................... 38 2.2.1. Critical Perspectives ................................................................................................... 38 2.2.2. Cultural Criminology .................................................................................................